After a rogue information technology specialist working for Coca-Cola gave away some of the company's laptops containing sensitive employee information, a former Coca-Cola technician sued the company for the resulting identity theft.

But a federal judge on March 31 threw out the case, holding that Coca-Cola had no responsibility to prevent its employees' personal information—like addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers—from falling into the wrong hands.

The prospective class action, filed by former Keystone Coca-Cola plant technician Shane K. Enslin, was brought on behalf of 74,000 employees whose information was stored on the laptop computers. Enslin argued that Coca-Cola laid out its duty to safeguard employee information in four documents: its job applications, code of conduct, information protection policy and acceptable use policy.